Buddhist Studies

English Delivered On Campus Campus Location Berkeley, United States Overview The programme The ability to read and analyze Buddhist texts in their original languages is an indispensable skill for research in the field. Accordingly, the study of classical Asian languages constitutes a core element of the doctoral program. The specific combination of Asian languages required for any particular Ph.D. student will depend on his/her area of research, but all students will be expected to gain facility in a minimum of two Asian languages, at least one of which will be Classical Chinese, Classical Japanese, Pali, Sanskrit, or Classical Tibetan. While linguistic competence is crucial, it is not considered an end in itself. Students in the Buddhist Studies program at the University of California, Berkeley are expected to acquire a sophisticated appreciation of the historical, social, and cultural milieus from which the Buddhist textual legacy emerged. All students in the Ph.D. program are encouraged to broaden and deepen their understanding of Buddhist phenomena through incorporating archaeological, ethnographic, and visual materials and perspectives. Programme Structure Curriculum: A minimum of 8 graduate seminars or upper division courses are required, all of which are chosen in consultation with the Academic Advisor. The art history course requirement can simultaneously fulfill the course requirement for the cognate disciplinary field in the event that said field is art history. All pre-candidates are required to enroll for 1 credit in the Buddhist Studies Proseminar each term they are registered, provided that the seminar is being offered. This seminar focuses on recent scholarship in the field, particularly interdisciplinary and cross-regional scholarship. It involves all Buddhist Studies faculty and students, and typically meets four times or so each semester. Admission requirements Academic requirements We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme. English requirements TOEFL iBT: 90 IELTS: 7 Other requirements General requirements Application materials become available in late September for admission effective the following year. All application materials must be submitted online. All applicants should list an email and postal address that will be effective through the entire application period. Applicants will submit unofficial transcripts, GRE scores, etc. on-line as part of the application. Admitted students will be required to submit two copies of all official transcripts in envelopes sealed by the issuing institutions at a later date. A writing sample in English must be included with the on-line application. The writing sample is intended to gauge an applicant's academic writing ability, and should be a paper that the student feels best represents the quality of his/her work. An ideal writing sample will be around 20 pages on a topic related to Buddhist studies, but a paper on another topic or of a different length may be acceptable.